


The Gilded Cage

by nigiyakapepper



Series: the gilded cage [2]
Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auctions, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ownership, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 21:27:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18507415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigiyakapepper/pseuds/nigiyakapepper
Summary: A Songbird was the manifestation of their Master’s wealth and talent. The most skilled, most beautiful Songbirds were the most coveted. They tried to make a name for themselves after their Debut, and aimed to be sold to the highest bidders during Auctions.What went unsaid but was largely understood was that a Songbird trained in the art of service too, in exchange for their Master’s care. A Songbird was essentially bought to be of service to the Master, and in these days, that could meananything, which was precisely the reason why Kai didn’t like them, and the reason why anyone below a certain range of income couldn’t possibly afford them.Unless these Songbirds were cheap—people who had bettered their looks and promiscuity but not much else. A lesser crowd wouldn’t know the intricacies of Songbird ownership, nor the difference between true talent or otherwise. Many simply jumped at the chance to buy one to show off the fact they could. And because of the mystery surrounding what Songbirds actually did, it wasn’t a surprise that, over the years, they’ve gained a reputation for being glorified, personal whores.In our first chapter, Kai finds himself at a Songbird Auction.





	The Gilded Cage

**Author's Note:**

> it's here! five years and then some in the making - my really self-indulgent "i genuinely don't know how to categorize this" fic! if any of you still remember and had been curious about the world behind **[one night in Soho](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139882)** , here is where it starts.
> 
> if you have any questions or comments about the world building, feel free to comment! just be mindful of the tags and general content of this fic. if the sale and ownership of people is uncomfy to you in any way, _kindly do not read this fic_. if Aichi, Kai and Ren being 15 and 16-17 respectively _and_ being involved in the business of the ownership of people is uncomfy to you in any way, _kindly do not read this fic_. the non-consensual drug use is only during the two chapters. it's not a recurring part of the story.
> 
> that's all my warnings for now. enjoy!

“I told you I don’t want one,” Kai grumbled.

 

“C’mon Kai, live a little. You’re an artist, aren’t you? Consider this like getting a muse,” Ren said.

 

Kai shot him a look, this time more than a little put off at his best friend’s insistence. Ren’s tone was deceptively light but the way he was leaning his entire weight on Kai’s body left little room for argument (something that Kai didn’t want to expend effort for either). He let himself be steered into the ballroom.

 

The April Hall of the Palace Hotel was one of the grander venues of the most expensive hotels in Central Tokyo. Luxurious drapes, several tables, and a small stage transformed the spacious area into a warmly lit, intimate theater and dining space filled to the brim with the rich and wealthy. The atmosphere was lively with talk and the occasional clink of tableware as guests dined on light dishes served by clandestine wait staff. There was excitement in the air, anticipation for the main event of the evening—a Songbird Auction.

 

Ren absently took a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing server and gave a thoughtful hum. Kai looked at him, nursing his own drink.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“It’s a different crowd.”

 

Kai had to agree. It wasn’t that Ren looked down on those with more financial struggles than others; it’s just that the nature of owning a Songbird shared characteristics with being rich—the indulgent, opulent rich.

 

A Songbird was the manifestation of their Master’s wealth and talent. A Master could choose to heap jewels upon their Songbird and pay for the upkeep of their beauty. A Master could have their Songbird trained in various arts—song, dance, music, poetry, weaponry, crafts, tea ceremony, and conversation. The most skilled, most beautiful and handsome Songbirds were the most coveted. They tried to make a name for themselves after their Debut, and aimed to be sold to the highest bidders during Auctions.

 

What went unsaid but was largely understood was that a Songbird had to train in the art of service too, in exchange for their Master’s care. A Songbird was essentially bought to be of service to the Master, and in these days, that could mean <i>anything</i>, which was precisely the reason why Kai didn’t like them, and the reason why anyone below a certain range of income couldn’t possibly afford them.

 

Unless these Songbirds were cheap—people who realized there’s money and comfort in being someone’s Bird and had bettered their looks and promiscuity but not much else. A lesser crowd wouldn’t know the intricacies of Songbird ownership, nor the difference between true talent or otherwise. Many simply jumped at the chance to buy one to show off the fact they could. And because of the mystery surrounding what Songbirds actually did, it wasn’t a surprise that, over the years, they’ve gained a reputation for being glorified, personal whores.

 

Many of the attendees were wearing elaborate masks like those of Italian carnivals while some chose to leave their faces bared. Ren was one of the latter as he surveyed the room with a cool gaze, polishing off his drink. Kai did the same and put his plain face mask back on, less out of wanting to hide his identity and more out of feeling the beginnings of a cold.

 

“You didn’t know?” he asked Ren, who had begun to text furiously on his phone.

 

“I heard a rumor they had one from a Nest. I wanted to see whether or not that was true.” Ren’s gaze flitted from the door, as if expecting someone, then back to the crowd. “If it is, I’ll be impressed…not to mention suspicious of where they got one. If it isn’t,” he shrugged. “Well, I’m not the Songbird police.”

 

Kai snorted at the idea. It’s true. Who were they to tell these people how to spend their money? If they were being fooled into paying millions for a cheap thing, it wasn’t Kai’s problem. Unless of course there was human trafficking involved (which was, unfortunately, not unheard of especially with fake auctions). True Songbird ownership already encroached on several sensitive matters, as its origins were already lost to antiquity and views have changed over time. It wasn’t a rabbit hole Kai wanted to go down anytime soon.

 

“Now here’s a face you don’t see every day.” A sultry voice snapped Kai out of his thoughts, and he turned to see Narumi Asaka greeting Ren with a kiss to his cheek. “You finally get out of your house and the first thing you do is catch a cold?”

 

“Well, I didn’t want to come,” Kai started. “Ren dragged me here—“

 

“Nonsense!” Ren said cheerfully and clapped Kai on the shoulder. “It’s high time you got a Songbird to get that stick out of your ass—“ a glare (Kai) and a chuckle (Asaka) “You’ve never seen one from a Nest, have you?”

 

Asaka raised her eyebrow at that. “Do they really have one? I don’t think a Songbird from a Nest could be auctioned in this day and age.”

 

“Jealous?” Ren asked, tone playful.

 

“No,” Asaka replied, nonplussed. “Suspicious,” she said and looked about the lively room, her critical eye not unlike Ren’s earlier. Kai smiled beneath his mask. Ren had never chosen his Songbirds for their looks nor skill, but for their ability to match him in wavelength. Asaka, with her snark and intelligence, was more than capable.

 

A Songbird from a Nest was someone hailing from a long line of those who excelled in the tradition—old families who have raised and trained Songbirds for generations, sons or daughters of renowned Birds who had chosen to follow in their parents’ footsteps. It was a phenomenon so rare these days that many (Masters and common folk alike) thought they’ve ceased to exist, choosing conventional professions and living out their lives in normalcy.

 

It was more common to find Songbirds, even quality ones, who’ve graduated from training schools (both reputed and otherwise) across the country. Asaka herself graduated from one of the best in Kanto, having promised she would stay by Ren’s side until the end of his days while they were all still wide-eyed kids living in the same neighborhood.

 

“How was the Finals by the way,” Kai asked, as Asaka indulged in a drink and hors d’oeuvres from passing trays.

 

“I won, 7-5. I honestly could have done better,” she said airily and shrugged. “But you know how it is with Peng.” As Ren’s Songbird, Asaka had chosen to pursue tennis, becoming a national force to be reckoned with at the age of seventeen. She was set to enter the upcoming Olympics, displaying the might and wealth of Fukuhara Industries which Ren owned.

 

Kai hummed in acknowledgement, attention shifting to the stage in the middle of the hall as the lights dimmed and conversations tapered off to excited whispers.

 

A portly man dressed in a suit and bowtie stepped onto the stage. The top half of his face was covered by an elegant, if eerie, white and gold mask with a beak-like nose reminiscent of medieval European medicine men. Visible just underneath that was a well-trimmed moustache. He spoke in the fashion of ringmasters at a circus.

 

“Good evening, most esteemed ladies and gentlemen! And welcome to tonight’s Songbird Auction! Please call me Bizen, and I will be your host for this evening.”

 

The red velvet curtains behind him rustled faintly, as if to mirror the anticipation of the audience.

 

“I hope your appetites haven’t been sated yet!” Bizen continued. “We have a lot of beauties in store for you tonight. Now, you’ve all been given auction numbers. After the performances of these lovely Birds, my wonderful assistant Emily—“ he waved to someone off stage “shall announce the starting bid. If you would like to raise that, simply hold up your number and state your new price. If no one is opposed to your proposal or raises it further, the Songbird is yours.”

 

Kai glanced at Ren to see that, sure enough, he had a number. He frowned.

 

“What?” Ren asked.

 

“Are you serious? I thought we were only going to look?”

 

Ren only gave him a maddeningly apathetic shrug as Bizen spoke again.

 

“First off! We have, from the S-school in Fukui, a lovely maiden who made her Debut last year with an incredible rendition of the legendary Moon Pull Dance. Her father is Brazilian-Japanese and her mother is from Russia! Like a siren luring men to the sea, please welcome Umi Musume!”

 

There was applause as the velvet curtains parted. A tall girl dressed in wispy, flowy silks artfully posed against the dance pole. The music began, rhythmic and heavy. She stomped to the beat in powerful, deliberate steps, her skirts echoing the movements like ripples in a lake. As the melody played and she slid sensually up and down the pole, keeping the audience captive with a piercing grey-blue gaze. They jolt as she hoisted herself up effortlessly, fluid as if the air were water, and she were a mermaid at sea.

 

 _So it begins_ , Kai thought dully. It wasn’t his first auction, nor his second or his third, or fifth for that matter. Ren had dragged him along to too many in the hopes of enticing him into bidding for a Bird, to no avail. Auctions were opportunities for Songbirds to showcase their talents. There were shows that featured the might and excellence of the old world—men and women bedecked in expensive, artful furisode, twirling all manners of props from hand painted fans to candles to flowers to elegantly forged weapons, their movements delivered with grace and military precision; men and women ridiculously skilled in the koto and the shamisen, singing warbling songs and poetry of centuries past; men and women featuring both beauty and strength performing different arts that they hoped would catch a Master’s fancy.

 

Then there were Auctions like this—men and women flaunting physical assets in seductive song and dance not unlike those found in night clubs of the most notorious red-light districts. It wasn’t to say that people preferred one or the other. Kai wouldn’t be surprised if the lavishly wealthy came to cheap auctions to indulge in baser goods.

 

He looked away from the stage as the bidding began. Quite a few had liked the Songbird’s pole dancing and were bidding generously. The Bird herself, who had stripped down to a lacy set of lingerie during the performance, could barely hide her glee at the prices.

 

The next Songbird came, performed, and was auctioned, and so was the next and the next, each performance somehow more gaudy and naked than the last. After the seventh Bird (who had whipped the audience into a frenzy of applause stripping everything but string undies and nipple tassels), people were growing restless.

 

“Seems like it’s coming up,” Asaka noted.

 

Ren was looking at the stage with such intensity Kai couldn’t help but be drawn in too. There was excitement, anticipation, apprehension. Even Bizen himself couldn’t seem to contain it when he stepped out onto the stage once more.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all be waiting for. Our last auction for the evening.” A tense pause. “Many of you came tonight after hearing about us auctioning off a Bird from a Nest—” Murmurs. “That’s right, a Songbird from an actual Nest. And not just any Nest…”

 

The excitement grew so thick you could cut it with a knife.

 

“But the son of the famous and infamous Starlight!”

 

Like a lighting strike, the stage name sent the audience into a frenzy. Hushed, hurried, disbelieving whispers of “Starlight?!” flitted from table to table. Kai himself was stunned, and turned to Ren to see him frowning, a mix of disproval, confusion and disbelief.

 

“But no one’s heard from Starlight in over twenty years!”

 

“She has a son? …wait, she got _married_?”

 

“Was she bought?”

 

“Rumors say she ran away with her Master to Europe.”

 

“Is this for real? This auction guarantees documents, right?”

 

“The dealer’s got a fake…”

 

“But if it’s true, what a steal!”

 

 …and the chatter went on. Kai watched, slightly intrigued. Asaka herself was mildly amused, and Ren was once again on his phone, texting furiously, no doubt itching to make calls he couldn’t make quite just yet.

 

“That’s true, folks,” Bizen was speaking again. “The most famous Songbird of her time, Starlight Sky! Our reliable connections kept in contact with her these past few years and discovered she was training her own son to be Songbird someday. Without further ado, here he is…Sendou Aichi!”

 

The curtains parted.

 

The slightest hint of a thick, cloying scent wafted from the stage.

 

From the shadows emerged a pale foot, shimmering from the thin, delicate chains of gold that adorned it, followed by the other foot, then the other once more. With the slow, heavy steps of a sleepwalker in dream, a boy stepped under the scrutiny of the lights upon the stage, body sparkling with a myriad of the same gold chains draped upon him. He raised his hands and twirled slowly in place, jewels falling past his arms like shooting stars, dancing with a slow careless grace, as if unaware of the eyes on him, or the fact that he was performing for an auction. Soft, bright blue hair came just past his chin and glittered with stones and pearls. He had an open face, expression calm and guileless, sky blue eyes unseeing with pupils blown wide, mouth slightly parted, following the movements of his arms as if entranced. He moved from one end of the stage to the other, like a nymph that had risen from a river to capture an unwary traveler. And capture he did.

 

Silence had fallen over the hall since the boy’s dance began. Like a spell it held fast even until he had stopped to stand by Bizen’s side, swaying slightly, still dazed, still unseeing. Bizen’s hand snaked its way around Aichi’s waist to pin him there, and the boy’s breath deepened by an increment.

 

“He starts at twenty million yen.”

 

Like a dam unleashed, numbers shot up into the air, and shouts of prices higher and higher than what had been yelled filled the air – many of them were in desperate increments of five to ten thousand. Clearly, Sendou Aichi’s price was worth more than the crowd could afford, but for the glory of owning a Nested Songbird, they would be fools to pass up the change.

 

Kai looked beside him. Asaka had a mild look of horror on her face, as did Ren. But before Kai could ask, the phone in his hand chimed with a message.

 

“It’s Tetsu,” Ren said, the set of his eyebrows belying any suspicions of his to be confirmed. Where most people would consider Shinjou Tetsu as one of Ren’s lackeys, Kai knew him as a junior high school friend and one of Ren’s more unconventional Songbirds – known for his strength and ability to Know Things, either from a glance and his own stock knowledge or from his skills in gathering information and his network.

 

“Devil’s Breath,” he continued, reading the message. “This Bizen guy made a hefty purchase of the stuff a couple years back.” He fixed a serious expression on the stage, where the biddings were still climbing. “This could get ugly.”

 

Kai watched as Ren raised his number and, with his voice like a whip, declared. “Thirty-six million yen!” blowing out the most recently offered thirty-one million fifty-five thousand.

 

Silence fell on the auction floor, more than a few attendees morphing from surprise to barely disguised disdain at seeing the Suzugamori heir – known for his penchant for rarities, objects and humans alike – in attendance. _Of course_ he was at a Songbird auction. _Of course_ he’d want to own one from a Nest.

 

“Thirty-seven million,” a smooth voice called from one of the tables nearest the stage, tucked in a clandestine corner. Its owner wore a black raven’s mask and donned a jaunty top hat.

 

“Thirty-eight,” Ren countered.

 

Kai’s time slowed down to a crawl. The audience watched Ren and the mystery man bid as if it was the most riveting tennis rally. Bizen was beside himself with glee. His bejeweled fingers squeezed Aichi’s bare forearm in excitement, which the boy was oblivious to. He had the same expression as the one he came onto the stage with – dazed, hazy, open. Kai felt his skin itch when Bizen bent down to whisper something in Aichi’s ear, and the boy nodding slowly without breaking his languid gaze into middle distance.

 

All sound rushed back when Asaka pressed a piece of plastic into his hand. It was a number.

 

“Asaka—” Kai began, but she shook her head. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and opened them again, hoping she can see his gratitude in the dim lights. “I owe you one.”

 

He was already running calculations in his head – what pieces of art to sell, heirlooms from the family treasury, utilities he can save on, bank accounts to empty, part-time jobs he can take on, who he can comfortably borrow money from until he can pay off all of this – as he raised his hand,

 

“Fifty-five million yen.”

 

Ren stared. Asaka stared. The mystery man stared. Bizen stared. The audience stared at Kai and his enormous price, but he didn’t see them.

 

“Going once! Going twice!”

 

All he saw was the splotchiness of Sendou Aichi’s complexion, the thin sheen of sweat on his skin hidden under all the shimmer, and the way he was having a harder and harder time holding himself up.

 

“Sold!” Bizen’s voice boomed. “For fifty-five million yen!”

 

**tbc**


End file.
